Georgia takes top spot in first College Football Playoff rankings of 2017

Georgia is at No. 1 in the first College Football Playoff Rankings of 2017.

The undefeated Bulldogs beat out Alabama for the top spot. The Crimson Tide, the only team who has made the College Football Playoff since the format’s inception in 2014, is at No. 2.

Notre Dame, which lost at home by one to the Bulldogs in Week 2 is at No. 3. Notre Dame has blown out USC and NC State the past two weeks. That Notre Dame game is probably why Georgia is at No. 1 over Alabama. The Crimson Tide’s best win is over Texas A&M given that Florida State, a preseason top-five team and who Alabama beat in Week 1, is currently 2-5.

The final spot in the top four went to Clemson, the defending national champions. Oklahoma, which beat Ohio State in Week 2, is at No. 5, the first team out of the playoff if it began today. Ohio State is at No. 6 after beating previously undefeated Penn State in Week 9.

Let’s be blunt, these rankings don’t matter. Only five of the 12 teams ranked in the first top four in the first three seasons of the College Football Playoff have made the playoff. So it’s hard to put a ton of stock in a set of rankings that will change multiple times — for sometimes curious reasons — until the binding and final set on Dec. 3.

But it was clear that being undefeated wasn’t everything. Wisconsin and Miami were the bottom two teams in the top ten behind one-loss teams Clemson, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State and TCU. While the Badgers and Hurricanes have won every game, they haven’t been blowing teams out and their opponents haven’t been the strongest. That’s not a good playoff combination.

The good news is that Miami and Wisconsin have plenty of time to change that. The Pac-12 may not. Washington is the conference’s highest-ranked team and the Huskies are ranked at No. 12.